Cloth and ribbon measuring device



s. E. PARRISH. CLOTH AND RIBBON MEASURING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV: 6, 19l8..

ww r r w n f/ e 1M I hm. m e o mm% W A M m h M Q w s. E. PARRISH. CLOTH ANDY/RIBBON MEASURING DEVICE.-

APPLICATION FILED NOV= 6,1918. L367,277 Patented Feb. 1, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET Q firmwea lift PATENT. OFFICE.

STEPHEN E. PARRISI-I, 0.1 GRAND RAIPIDS, MICHIGAN.

CLOTH AND RIBBON MEASURING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 1, 1921.

Application filed November 6, 1918. Serial No. 261,410.

To all whom it may concern:

Be, it known that I, STEPHEN E. PARRISH, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Grand Rapids, in the county or llllent and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in "Cloth and Ribbon Measuring Devices; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a cloth or ribbon measuring appliance, the same being an unprovement in the construction shown and described in my prior application, Serial Number 169,188, iiled May 17, 1917. This invention is particularly adapted for use in counting the folds of cloth wound around a central core without counting them oncby one as heretofore in order to determine the amount of material in a bolt of cloth as at inventory, and it is also adapted to approximately measure the number of yards of rib.

bon wound on the usual and ordinary ribbon core, the principle of operation being the same in both cases. My invention has for its primary object and purpose the construction of an appliance of this character in the simplest possible way, one which is easily and readily operable, and one in which no lost motion is present in the moving parts of the appliance so that errors in countlng or in computation of folds of cloth or yardage of ribbon are avoided.

For an understanding of the construction embodying the invention by which these ends together with many others not at this time specifically stated are attained, reference may be had to the following descrip tion taken in connection with. the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan, parts being broken away to disclose interior mechanism, of the cloth fold counting device.

Fig. 2 is aside view thereof.

Fig. 3 is a plan, the upper cover member being removed, of a modification in structure adapted for ribbon measurement.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation thereof, and

Fig. 5 is an end view.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the different views of the drawing.

1n construction, a bottom housing member 1 of sheet metal is provided from which a plate 2, preferably of wood extends, the

same being secured to the housing member and progressively widening toward its outer edge. An indicating member 3, preferably formed from celluloid is attached to the upper face of the plate 2 having a scale of indicating characters of the type shown printed or otherwise suitably applied to the member 3. One edge of the plate 2 is strengthened and reinforced by a metal channel 4: which is continued along the curved outer edge thereof as shown at 5, this also adding. to the appearance of the device. The housing is completed by a cover member 6 of sheet metal and along the edge of plate 2 opposite that covered by the channel 4, a cylindrical metal member 7 is attached, the same serving as a grip for the hand. of the operator to engage as will later appear. A prong 8 is securedto the housing and extends therefrom substantially in alinement with said handle member 7, its free end being sharpened as indicated at 9 so as to readily enter between folds of cloth in a bolt of cloth.

A. flat bar 10 of metal is pivotally mounted between its ends at 11 within the housing, said bar extending at both ends beyond the housing, passing through slots therein, and one end 12 being formed as an indicating pointer and passing over the indicator member 3. A link 13 is also pivotally mounted adjacent one end within the housing a distance from the bar 10, the pivot 14 for the linkbeing located near one side of the housing as shown. This link has a short extension 15 between which and the bar 10 a spring 16 under tension is interposed.

A. rod 17 having a head 18 is disposed be tween and pivotally connected to theends of the bar 10 and link 13. Under the influence of the spring 16, the head is brought to bear against the prong 8, and it is ap parent that whenever said head is moved away from the prong the indicating pointer 12 is moved over the indicator member 3 a greater or less dlstance dependent upon the distance that the head is moved. An operating crank 19 having a handle 20 is fixed to the pivot 11 so that when the appliance is taken in the right hand, with the grip memher 7 seated in the palm of the hand, the thumb may be brought into engagement with the handle 20 for ready operation of the bar 10 thereby moving the head away from prong.

Referring to the indicator member 3, it

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will be noted that a series of concentric lines are shown with spaces between which are indicated b the different letters of the alphabet. ifferent pieces of cloth are of different thicknesses, and in practice it is designed that fivethicknesses shall be counted at the outside of the bolt and then the same interposed between the prong 8 and the head 18, whereupon the pointer 12 is moved a certain distance over the member 8, differing of course with the thickness of the cloth. l/Vherever the edge of the pointer stops at a dot, indicated near the outer portion of the member 3 in Fig. 1, this will be indicative of the space which will be followed to determine the total number of folds of cloth on the bolt. Thereafter the whole thickness of the bolt of cloth at one side of the core is placed between the prong and head, and following the space indicated by the first five folds, the pointer will indicate the multiple of five folds on the entire bolt. For in stance, if on the first operation, the edge of .the pointer should stop directly over the first dot in the first space K, on the second operation when the entire thickness of the folds at one side of the core was placed between the prong and head, said space K would be followed and the number of dots passed over by the pointer counted. If, for instance this should be 12, the number of folds on the core would be 5 times 12 or 60.

Then by use of well known appliances for determining the length of cloth on a bolt when the number of folds and the width of the bolt are known, the amount of cloth on the particular bolt may bedetermined. The sharpened prong readily enters between the folds of cloth, and the operating crank may be easily moved to carry the head 18 away from the prong whenever folds of cloth are to be placed between the prong and head. Moreover, the tension of the spring is not greatly varied and there is no lost motion to be magnified by the pointer and produce a false indication. With this device the number of folds of cloth may be determined quite accurately, entirely suflicient for inventory purposes, and much more accurate than previously with the old method 'of counting them, while the time saved is very great.

For the measuring of ribbon a somewhat modified form of construction is used. This is shown in Figs. 3 to 5 inclusive. The lower housing member 21, the plate extension 22, indicator 23, housing cover 26, hand grip 27, prong 28 having a pointed end 29 are similar to the parts 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the first construction described, except that the plate 22 is of metal and does not need any finishing border of metal like the wooden plate 2. The lever 30 is pivotally mounted at 31 on the lower housing plate 21 and has an extension indicator finger 32 to pass over the indicator 23. This lever or bar 30 is actuated by a spring 36 and at one end is formed with a rounded head 30 seating in a recess in a rod 37 which at its end is pressed normally against the prong 28. An operating crank 39 with a thumb engaging handle -10 is secured to the pivot 31 to operate the bar 30 the same as bar 3 is operated by handle 19.

The operation of this type of machine is substantially the same as the first except that four thicknesses of ribbon are first placed between the end of the rod 37 and the prong 28, it being known that four thicknesses of ribbon on the usual ribbon core make approximately one yard. This will brin the edge of the pointer 32 over the first d ot of one of the spaces between the lines of the indicator member 23 and then by placing the full thickness of ribbon on a core between the end of rod 37 and the prong and following the space found by the first operation, the number of yards of ribbon on the core is approximately found by the position taken by the indicating finger Accordingly, a direct measurement of ribbons wound on cores can be had without the necessity of unwinding the ribbon as heretofore in inventory taking.

The constructions described are relatively simple and are positive and sulliciently accurate for measurement in taking inventory. The structure of the appliances is such that their use and operation with bolts of cloth or with ribbon packages is very easy and the separation of different thicknesses of cloth from each other or of the ribbon or cloth from the cores on which they are wound i. greatly facilitated by the pointed form of the prongs. These structures have proven very valuable as time savers in inventory in large department stores in actual practice.

I claim:

1. In combination, a housing. a plate extending from one side of the housing. sail plate carrying measuring indications thereon, a hand grip at one edge of the plate, a prong extending from the housing in a direction opposite to the plate, a bar pivotally mounted within the housing and havinga part extending from the housing over the plate to serve as an indicating pointer, means normally moving the pointer to one side of the plate, a rod connected with the opposite end of the bar having one end adapted to engage against the prong, and an operating crank attached to the bar at the pivotal mount thereof for manual operation thereof whereby the end of the rod may be moved away from the prong, substantially as described.

2. In combination, a housing, a. plate extending'from one side of the housing, said plate carrying indicating characters thereon, a prong extending from the housing in ion a direction opposite to the extension of the plate from the housing, a bar pivotally mounted within the housing and having one end extending through the housing over the plate to serve as an indicating pointer, a

rod connected to the opposite end of the bar and mounted to move toward or away from the prong, one end being adapted to engage against the prong, spring means connected to the bar normally acting to force the end of the rod against the prong and the pointer to one side of the plate, and an operating crank connected to the bar for manually moving the same to separate the rod and prong, substantially as described.

3. In combination, a housing, a prong ex tending from the housing at one end and to one side of the housing, a bar pivotally mounted within the housing, and having a part projecting beyond the housing opposite to the extension of the prong from the housing, a member connected to the opposite end of the bar and movable toward or away from the prong, spring means associated with the bar normally acting to bring the member against the prong, a cylindrical hand grip extending from the housing opposite to the prong, a plate extending from the housing, said hand grip lying at one edge of the plate and said free end of the bar mounted to pass thereover, said plate carrying indicating characters with relation to which said free end of the bar is adapted to act as a pointer, and means connected to the bar for action thereupon by the thumb of an operator for moving the pointer over the plate and the member away from the prong.

ll. In combination, a housing, a plate extending from the housing at one side there of, said plate carrying a plurality of indicating characters thereon, a prong extend ing from the housing in a direction opposite to the extenslon of said plate, a bar plvotr ally mounted between its ends within the housing, one end of the bar extending over the plate to serve as an indicating pointer, and the other end extending from the hous ing in the same general direction as the prong, a link pivotally mounted on the housing a distance from the bar and substantially paralleling the bar, a rod interposed between and pivotally connected at spaced apart points to the ends of the bar and link, said rod being provided with a head arlapted to engage against the prong, a spring interposed between the link and bar normally forcing said head on the rod against the prong, and manually operated means for moving the bar to carry said head away from the pron 5. In combination, a plate provided with a series of indicating characters thereon, a support for the plate, a pointed prong extending from the support opposite to the extension of the plate therefrom, a hand grip along one edge of the plate, a bar pivotally mounted on the support, one end thereof lying over the plate, a rod connected to the otherend of the bar having an end adapted to engage against the prong, means yieldingly forcing said end of the rod against the prong, and manually operated means located on the side of the support opposite to that at which the bar is located for moving the rod away from the prong, substantially as described.

6. In combination, a support, a plate en tending to one side thereof, said plate carrying a plurality of indicating characte s, a prong extending to the opposite side of the support, a pointer movably mounted to pass over the plate, a rod. associated. with the pointer and normally bearing atone end against the prong, means yieldingly holding the rod against the prong, a rounded hand grip at one edge of the plate, and a manually operable crank associated with the rod to move the same away with a simultaneous movement of the pointer over the plate, the movement of the pointer being in direct proportion to the movement of the rod from the pron In testimony whereof I atlix my signature.

STEPHEN E. PARRISH. 

